“You teach Legal Ethics as an adjunct in GW. You know what to do, so why ask me?” said Nick. He looked around in the Sans Souci Restaurant in Georgetown, a hangout of the power brokers in the capital.

            “I can’t afford to say no to Sam,” Belinda told Nick, her mentor who’d left the US Attorney’s Office to become a partner in a white shoe law firm on Connecticut Avenue.

            “Sam’s a political hack. But our Senate will confirm this failed lawyer as the US Attorney to avoid pissing off the man.”

            “No matter, Sam’s still my boss, I’ve gotta to do what he asks.”

            Nick pulled back the French cuff of his light blue shirt, looked at the diamond encrusted Rolex and said, “Listen, I charge my clients a $1000 dollars an hour but for you my advice is free. Don’t destroy evidence. That’s an offence.” He went back to eating the sirloin steak and reached for the ketchup with his hairy liver spotted hand.

            “Not destroy. He told me to misplace the body-cam footage, at least until the storm dies down.”

            “Footage that clearly shows the ICE thug murdering an unarmed woman protester who spat at him, mother of a toddler. Spitting is not a capital offence even in Alabama. You don’t shoot people for that, you arrest them.”

            Belinda listlessly toyed with her quinoa salad. She said, “I interviewed the agent. From Texas. He used the N word and said that if he arrested her, a DC jury full of her kind would acquit her, so he had no option.” Belinda stopped speaking as a waiter approached them and took their coffee orders. Belinda asked the waiter for more Perrier.

            As the waiter left, Nick leaned towards her and in an urgent whisper said, “You’re an officer of the court, Belinda. You tell Sam you won’t and damn the consequences.”

            “Easy for you to say Nick,” she said twisting her plain wedding ring. “Ted’s still looking for a job, we have a mortgage and a two year old. We depend on my health insurance.”

            “You and I know, that stuff’s irrelevant, totally.”

            “No. What’s irrelevant are the courts, the law, the constitution, the whitened sepulchre we call Congress. As law students we were told to revere these but from a worm’s eye view, the whole thing is a scam.”

            “And what would that worm’s eye view be?” Nick raised his eyebrows.

            “What’s the point of the Bill of Rights, due process, the right to be heard if an ICE thug can shoot you dead and claim immunity?”

            “Blame our corrupt SCOTUS. They give immunity to all the feds.”

            “Yeah, they said if Congress wants to remove this immunity, let them. Actually, what they should have said is that there is no immunity for criminal acts and if Congress wants to give immunity, then by God they should do so.”

            “Belinda, you took an oath to uphold the laws. Destroying evidence, oh I’m sorry,” Nick said, making air quotes “Misplacing” crucial evidence. How does that square with your oath?”

            “Tell me Nick. Will you hire me if I say no to Sam?”

            “I can put in a word but it’s up to the Hiring Committee. They won’t be processing new applications until winter.”

            “Great!”

            “I know. Lots of government attorneys have resigned. Looking for jobs with firms. We can’t cope with the applications.”

            “And you want me to be like them. Uphold my oath of office, walk the talk, and sacrifice my family. For what?”

            “What would you tell your students?”

            “I would give them a reality check, I will tell them the truth.”

            “And that would be?”

            “Actually, I won’t tell them. I’ll ask them. After all, we call it the Socratic method.”

            “What?”

            “I will ask them whether the powerless should stand up to the powerful machine and invoke ethics when they will be fired and the powerful will continue preaching hypocritical nonsense to the public.”

            “You’re too young to be so cynical.”

            “You mean, I’m too young to be realistic?”

            “You came here to get my blessing for your evidence suppression caper. You’re not getting it.”

            “Maybe I did but not anymore. People like you are the problem.”

            “You mean people like Sam, people like you?”

            “What do you see when you look at the mirror, Nick?”

            “What everyone sees. A human being doing what he can to be good and decent.”

            “And what use is any human being who works for a law firm that bends its knee to a dictator and commits to millions of dollars in pro bono work for causes that fight against equal rights for all Americans?”

            Nick sighed and raised his eyebrows. He called for the check, declining the offer of a desert. Annoyed he placed his firm’s Centurion  Amex card on the table. Looking around, he saw a supreme court justice who voted to override Roe v Wade. This supreme court justice under oath assured the Senate Judiciary Committee in confirmation hearings that he would respect precedent when asked about the case. Nick got up and walked over to the justice and shook his hand.

            Belinda paid the check with cash. She took Nick’s steak knife and sawed his black credit card into halves. Picking up the pieces she walked to Nick and the supreme court justice.

            “Excuse me gentlemen,” she said interrupting the justice who was talking. The justice, puzzled, looked at her. A red-faced Nick glared at her. She handed Nick the neatly sliced American Express Centurion card. As he looked at the mutilated card in his palm, Belinda told a livid Nick, “Don’t leave home without it.” She made eye contact with the justice and left the restaurant to hail a cab on Wisconsin Avenue.